Compare
Japan vs Vietnam
How Japan and Vietnam compare on 37 measures, from 1789 to 2025. The main differences:
- Life expectancy · In 2023, Japan was higher: 84.7 years against 74.6 years
- GDP per person · In 2025, Japan was higher: $38,620 against $4,308
- Population · In 2023, Japan was higher: 124 million people against 100 million people
- Military spending · In 2025, Vietnam was higher: 2.15% of GDP against 1.41% of GDP
- CO₂ per person · In 2024, Japan was higher: 7.84 tonnes against 4.27 tonnes
Every measure
Health
- Life expectancyJapan: 84.7 years in 2023Vietnam: 74.6 years in 2023
- Child mortalityJapan: 0.2 per 100 live births in 2024Vietnam: 1.7 per 100 live births in 2024
- Infant mortalityJapan: 1.6 per 1,000 live births in 2023Vietnam: 15.1 per 1,000 live births in 2023
- Safe drinking waterJapan: 98.7% in 2022Vietnam: 57.8% in 2022
- DepressionJapan: 3.34% in 2017Vietnam: 2.88% in 2017
- Suicide rateJapan: 15.7 per 100,000 people in 2017Vietnam: 7.4 per 100,000 people in 2017
People
- PopulationJapan: 124 million people in 2023Vietnam: 100 million people in 2023
- Population growthJapan: -0.48% a year in 2023Vietnam: 0.64% a year in 2023
- Fertility rateJapan: 1.21 births per woman in 2023Vietnam: 1.91 births per woman in 2023
- Urban populationJapan: 92.3% in 2025Vietnam: 38.8% in 2025
- Median ageJapan: 49 years in 2023Vietnam: 32.4 years in 2023
- People aged 65 and overJapan: 29.6% in 2023Vietnam: 8.6% in 2023
- Net migration rateJapan: 1.4 per 1,000 people in 2023Vietnam: -0.8 per 1,000 people in 2023
Economy
Education
Politics
Conflict
Military
- Military spendingJapan: 1.41% of GDP in 2025Vietnam: 2.15% of GDP in 2025
- Military spending in US dollarsJapan: $59.5B in 2025Vietnam: $10.9B in 2025
- Military spending per personJapan: $504 in 2025Vietnam: $104 in 2025
- Military share of state spendingJapan: 3.8% of government spending in 2025Vietnam: 9.9% of government spending in 2025
- Armed forces personnelJapan: 261,000 people in 2020Vietnam: 522,000 people in 2020
- National powerJapan: 2.47% of world capability in 2022Vietnam: 1.11% of world capability in 2022
- Armed forces, share of workersJapan: 0.38% of the labour force in 2020Vietnam: 0.95% of the labour force in 2020
- Arms importsJapan: 1.72 billion TIV in 2025Vietnam: 177 million TIV in 2025
- Arms exportsJapan: 28 million TIV in 2025Vietnam: 10 million TIV in 2018
Climate
Technology and environment
Each country on its own
Good to know
- Sources: UN, Gapminder and UN IGME, WHO/UNICEF, IHME, World Bank, IMF, V-Dem, UCDP, SIPRI, IISS, Correlates of War, ERA5, CMIP6, EDGAR, ITU and FAO. Each measure’s page names its own and what it counts.
- Values are drawn on today’s borders. Years without a published value are left empty, never filled in.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time